Steelers Enjoying a Late Bloom

The Pittsburgh Steelers are wondering where all these big plays on offense and defense were all season.

Tommy Maddox threw three touchdown passes, Jerome Bettis passed Marcus Allen to become the seventh-leading rusher in NFL history and the Steelers beat the turnover-riddled San Diego Chargers, 40-24, Sunday.

It was the kind of performance the Steelers (6-9) expected but rarely got in perhaps the most disappointing of Bill Cowher’s 12 seasons as coach. They can decide the AFC North champion Sunday at Baltimore (9-6), but only by keeping the Ravens at home, not by advancing to the postseason for the third straight season themselves.

“That will be our playoffs,” Steeler linebacker Joey Porter said. “If we had played like this all year, we’d have a chance.”

The Chargers (3-12) played as they usually do. Drew Brees had three costly turnovers for the second straight week, with the Steelers’ Deshea Townsend intercepting two passes and recovering a fumble. Townsend returned the second interception 25 yards for a touchdown that sealed the Steelers’ fourth win in 12 games.

Bettis is enjoying a strong finish. He ran for 115 yards, his second 100-yard game in three weeks after he went more than a year without one. It was his biggest game since he gained 163 yards against Cleveland on Nov. 11, 2001, and he needs 14 yards at Baltimore to overtake Jim Brown (12,312) for sixth place. He has 12,299 yards rushing.

“To be there with the legendary Jim Brown is amazing,” Bettis said. “It felt good. I just think it shows that I can do it; there have been some questions about my skills diminishing.”

Plaxico Burress’ scoring catches of 25 and 16 yards against man-to-man coverage helped the Steelers open a 21-0 lead before San Diego had a first down.

“They played bump and run, and hardly anybody does that,” Burress said. “I looked over to their coach, I was surprised.”

The Chargers threatened a comeback by scoring 17 consecutive points, only to unravel in a familiar way with more Brees turnovers. The fumble led to Hines Ward’s 20-yard touchdown catch and the first interception led to the first of two Jeff Reed field goals.

LaDainian Tomlinson scored on a two-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. But on the Chargers’ next series, Brees’ pass deflected off Tomlinson to Townsend, who returned it for his first career touchdown, and an unhappy Coach Marty Schottenheimer yanked Brees.